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Yunnan Clique
The Yunnan Clique is a warlord state in southeastern China composed of the provincial governments of Yunnan and Guizhou. Though it recognizes the Qing government in Beijing, the clique is one of the most autonomous in China due to its geographical isolation and the pro-republican leanings of its leadership. The clique has been dominated by General Tang Jiyao since 1916. History The Qing government’s decision to found the Yunnan Military Academy in 1909 created an opportunity for local youths to receive a modern military education, and as a result the young officers of Yunnan proved particularly receptive to republicanism. When the Xinhai Revolution broke out in 1911, General Cai E mobilized the 37th Brigade and took control of the province. Cai was named military governor of Yunnan and strongly supported the KMT under Song Jiaoren. In 1913 after Song’s assassination, President Yuan Shikai brought Cai to Beijing and placed him under house arrest, elevating Cai’s subordinate Tang Jiyao to become governor of Yunnan. When Yuan declared himself emperor in 1915, Cai escaped captivity and returned to Yunnan, where on the 25th of December he and Tang declared the formation of the National Protection Army to restore the republic. The National Protection War was a swift success as other provinces joined the rebellion and Yuan’s allies deserted him. Yuan stepped down on March 22nd 1916 and died a few months later. Cai, who had gained the governorship of Sichuan, succumbed to tuberculosis on December 19th in a Japanese hospital. Despite Yunnan’s leadership in the National Protection War, Tang Jiyao found himself locked out of national prominence by the northern warlords. When Sun Yat-sen and the KMT established a rival government in Guangzhou in 1917, Tang Jiyao aligned with them and joined the Constitutional Protection War. Under the name of Jingguojun or “National Pacification Army”, the Yunnan Clique attacked and conquered the provinces of Guizhou and Sichuan. Sun became marginalized within the southern government and resigned his leadership, allowing the Old Guangxi Clique to take control of Guangdong. In 1920 the Yunnan Clique made an attempt to reassert control over Sichuan, but the warlords of the Sichuan Clique banded together and won. At the same time, Chen Jiongming successfully overthrew the Old Guangxi Clique, and Sun and the KMT returned to the south in 1921. Although Tang was offered leadership of the southern provisional government, he declined and remained in Yunnan to protect his position. A number of Yunnan generals led by Gu Pinzhen blamed Tang for the failure of the war against Sichuan and launched a coup. Tang was forced to flee to Guangzhou while the forces that remained loyal to him retreated to southern Yunnan under the command of Long Yun. While in exile, Tang was lobbied by Sun to take a position of leadership in the KMT. However, Chen successfully dissuaded Tang from accepting the offer and promised to support Tang in his reconquest of Yunnan. In 1922, Tang returned and his armies defeated Gu, killing him in battle. Gu’s supporters were forced to flee: Yang Ximin and Fan Shisheng to Guangzhou; Jin Handing, Tang Zhunyuan, and Zhu De to Sichuan. Jin and Tang eventually joined Yang and Fan in joining the KMT’s National Revolutionary Army, but Zhu De grew tired of endless war and went to Germany. Tang Jiyao next attempted to invade Guangxi in the Yunnan-Guangxi War of 1923. At first it seemed a success and the Old Guangxi Clique was defeated, but Tang found that he lacked the capability to control the province as it slipped into chaos. The Yunnan armies were forced to withdraw the next year, but the KMT-aligned New Guangxi Clique was able to take control. After the death of Sun in 1925 Tang once again had an opportunity to contest the leadership of the KMT, but he declined. Instead, Tang directed his energies to the conquest of Guizhou and the resulting increase in tax revenue allowed him to rebuild his army. He successfully intervened in Sichuan, preventing Zhili-backed General Yang Sen from consolidating control over the province. Now exiled in Hong Kong, Chen Jiongming strengthened his ties with Tang, who became increasingly distant from the KMT and wary of syndicalist influence. Tang’s break with the KMT became more apparent when he declared the Yunnan Clique neutral after the beginning of the Northern Expedition. Worried that the Germans might intervene against him, Tang’s rule over the clique became increasingly isolationist and centralized, and he began to rely upon his brother Tang Jiyu instead of his experienced generals. After the defeat of the Northern Expedition in 1927, the remnants of the NRA’s 3rd Army retreated south until they came to the Guizhou border. Led by rightists Zhu Peide, Jin Handing, and Fan Shisheng, the exhausted KMT forces demanded refuge. At first Tang attempted to deny them entrance, however Long Yun and other generals of the clique, who were increasingly unhappy with Tang’s despotic and corrupt rule, demanded Tang allow them in. They hoped that the experienced 3rd Army could serve as a counterbalance to Tang’s dominance. Fearing a coup by his subordinates and the looming prospect of a Zhili hegemony over China, Tang buckled to pressure and allowed the 3rd Army to enter the clique. Next door, the Old Guangxi Clique defeated the New Guangxi Clique in the Guangxi Civil War, and the New Guangxi Clique under Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi retreated west. For the second time, Tang offered sanctuary to Right-KMT forces. In 1928 the Shanxi Clique declared the new Qing government illegitimate, beginning the 4th Zhili-Fengtian War. Tang quickly joined the anti-Zhili side leading his armies in an invasion of Sichuan, while the former NRA 3rd Army attacked Hunan and the New Guangxi clique attacked Guangxi. Despite some initial victories, the campaign was frustrated by the tangled command structure that existed between the disparate forces. As the Yunnan Clique became bogged down in the mountains of Sichuan and Western Hunan, the war stalled on other fronts as well. The anti-Zhili coalition agreed to a ceasefire, and all the warlord states save for the Fengtian Clique agreed to recognize the Qing as the legitimate government of China. Warlord Sun Chuanfang was dissuaded from invading Yunnan thanks to the strength of the former NRA armies. In 1929 the former 3rd Army of the NRA declared itself the Jianguo Dianjun, the National Foundation Army, but Tang refused to give them a place in his government. In 1931 skirmishing broke out along the Guangxi-Guizhou border between forces of the Old Guangxi Clique and the New Guangxi Clique. Chen Jiongming and Zhao Hengti, governor of Hunan, mediated an end to the nascent conflict, establishing a period of peace in southwestern China. Now that most of China was at peace, Tang hoped to downsize the Yunnan Clique’s armies to help alleviate the increasingly poor financial situation. His army reduction plan was, however, rebuffed by the other generals, as no one (Tang included) was willing to cut down his own military strength. In 1933 Tang again attempted to attack Sichuan but was deterred by pressure from the League of Eight Provinces, and instead he resorted to expanding opium production to raise revenue. Politics In theory, Yunnan is merely a provincial government, pledging its subservience to the Qing throne and sending representatives to the assembly in Beijing. In reality, Yunnan is a warlord state that does little more than acknowledge the central government. Though a provincial constitution was enacted in 1927 delegating some powers to local assemblies, all political power ultimately rests in governor Tang Jiyao who rules his provinces by decree. The only check on Tang’s power is fear of alienating his fellow generals to the point they may act against him. However, this has hardly stopped him from centralizing the government under himself and favoring his brother Tang Jiyu over his other (arguably more competent) generals. A number of small, left-wing parties are active in Yunnan, most notably the social democratic Zhongguo Nonggong Minzhudang (Chinese Peasants’ and Workers’ Democratic Party), but the lack of any real democracy means that party politics is largely irrelevant. Military The Yunnan Clique fields some of the finest and most experienced soldiers in China. Much of this is due to the Kunming Military Academy and its renowned instructors, such as retired general Zhu De, who returned to teach at the academy after his exile in Germany. Although Tang Jiyao is the nominal leader of the Yunnanese armies as military governor, in reality the other generals of the clique are mostly autonomous and their deference to orders from the top depends upon their level of personal loyalty. There are two other forces with even greater independence. The National Foundation Army led by Zhu Peide is the successor of the NRA’s 3rd Army and guards the Guizhou border. The army of the New Guangxi Clique, a.k.a. The former NRA 7th Army, is led by Li Zongren and is stationed at the border with Guangxi. These two independent forces, coupled with the fact that Tang’s ability to control even his direct subordinates is not assured, means that the Yunnan Clique’s command structure is extremely complicated and unreliable. Foreign Relations Though Tang Jiyao has recognized the Qing government, it is no secret that he remains hostile to the Zhili Clique after his defeat in the Fourth Zhili-Fengtian War. The feeling is mutual; only the difficulty inherent in conquering Yunnan deterred Sun Chuanfang from attacking when he had the chance. Tang has long held ambitions of expanding his clique’s territory, particularly by seizing Zhenyuan county on the eastern border. Tang’s only real ally is Guangdong governor Chen Jiongming, whose nascent federalist movement Tang supports, at least superficially. Tang hates and fears the Germans, both for their sponsorship of the Zhili Clique and their stranglehold over Yunnan’s export industry via their control of the Indochinese ports. The borders between Yunnan and its neighbors Siam, Burma, and Tibet are uncertain and contested. There are some in Yunnan who claim that these states control ‘rightful’ Chinese territory that ought to be regained, by force if necessary. Economy Yunnan’s economy is, even by Chinese standards, underdeveloped. Remote and mountainous, Yunnan has few large urban centers and less arable land than its neighbors to the north and east. The province was early a center of textile manufacturing and other light industry, but profitability declined as it soon fell behind in adopting new production techniques. Yunnan’s one great advantage is plentiful mineral wealth, for the province holds deposits of iron, bauxite, lead, zinc, copper, nickel, and other valuable resources. But of particular importance is tin. The tin mines of Gejiu are some of the most productive in the world, and it was the Gejiu mines that attracted enough French interest for them to build the Kunming–Haiphong railway. Completed in 1910, the railway brought Yunnanese tin to the French Indochinese port of Haiphong, and the trade continued after the German takeover. As the German A.O.G. likewise controls all railways in the League of Eight Provinces, Yunnan finds itself suffering from a German transportation monopoly. As producers in Yunnan lack the equipment to refine their tin, it is sold to German companies very cheaply. The Germans transport to tin to A.O.G. facilities where it is refined and sold on the world market for a much higher price. The clique’s financial state is dire, as decades of war and an oversized army have almost totally drained the financial reserves. Tang Jiyao’s current main source of income is the illicit but profitable opium trade. However, proposals have been made to industrialize and expand mining operations. Their main advocate is Miao Yuntai, president of the FuDian Bank and the province’s foremost industrialist. Culture Yunnan is one of the most culturally diverse provinces in China with a large number of ethnic groups, the largest of which are the Tai peoples. This has often been a source of conflict as evidenced in the Panthay Rebellion, when a Hui-led coalition of ethnic minorities staged an uprising during the late Qing era. Immigration and sinicization policies have slowly raised the profile of Han culture, but warlords still find themselves having to make alliances with local chieftains in order to pacify the rural population. See also * Fourth Zhili-Fengtian War Category:Countries Category:Asian countries Category:Chinese-related topics